Why the Russia-Trump memos are dubious

Third, there are some glaring inconsistencies in the memos. One memo (see p. 8 of the pdf published by BuzzFeed) addresses Trump’s “claimed minimal investment profile in Russia” and cites an anonymous, “separate source with direct knowledge” as claiming that “this had not been for want of trying.” The memo’s author continues: “Trump’s previous efforts had included exploring the real estate sector in St. Petersburg as well as Moscow but in the end Trump had had to settle for the use of extensive sexual services there from local prostitutes rather than business success.”

But this is plainly contradicted on the very first page of the memos, which reads:

“So far Trump has declined various sweetener real estate business deals offered him in Russia in order to further the Kremlin’s cultivation of him.”

Therefore, we have two versions of the story within just several pages of each other. In one version, President-elect Trump was trying very hard to secure favorable real estate transactions in Russia, but supposedly had to settle for salacious services. In the other version, Trump turned down “various sweetener real estate business deals.” The inconsistency here is quite obvious. If Trump had been offered sweetheart business deals, then he wouldn’t have had “to settle” for something more carnal.